Hang on. They only just open sourced the Unity Test Tools, and now Unity 4.6 is already in open beta? With those fancy, and quite advanced, new UI customization features? Lovely! Do keep in mind however, that beta is beta, so be sure to make backups of your project(s) prior to use.

When it comes to software development, everyone has their own personal preference for what goes where on the screen(s), so this should sit well with Unity users of all skill levels. Also, based on the release notes, it seems like they’ve managed to tear everything apart, without actually breaking it. Or in plain English: UI elements can now be manipulated in a wealth of new ways, with “pixel perfect alignment” to boot. So, beta or not, the more control a user has over what goes where (and how, when, why, etc.), in terms of UI design, the better.

Design UIs for your game or application using Unity’s powerful new component based UI framework and visual tools.

Now, while the focus of this release is the new UI stuff, it wouldn’t be a proper update – beta or not – without a few bug fixes and general improvements. Not that I have any idea what most of it means though, except for this one, which certainly sounds useful: “New API TouchScreenKeyboard.isSupported to check if platform supports on screen keyboard.”. Anyway, for the complete ‘what’s new in the Unity 4.6 beta’, check out the links below. Happy coding/gamedev!